Keep getting in touch with the business world

Today is the first time I have seen RT in such high spirits since a long time. He came in earlier than usual, instead of starting up his laptop, the first thing he did was to take out a few pieces of loose papers and flashed at me. They are photocopied newspaper cuttings of company news on water and energy sectors, two of them were on Hyflux and another big player in the same field, Boustead. He also passed me this month’s edition (June) of Pulses, featuring CEO of Boustead, Mr. FF Wong. In the magazine, there were also some important financial figures showing constant growth in terms of revenue and profits (in 2007, a bit low, could be due to expenses). In a gist, Mr. Wong expressed a very positive outlook and aggressive roadmap for Boustead not only in its field of infrastructure building, already expanding water and wastewater business, but also geo-spatial services, an area which provides solutions for optimisation of land and space resources. Its subsidiary Salcon, apparently a direct competitor to Hyflux, is also venturing into Middle East market, on top of its current NEWater plant locally. The magazine also covered stories on Capitaland and Goodpack and many other inspiring articles; and very coincidentally, these companies were mentioned during the TA course that we attended a few days ago and we seemed to appreciate more and more on the business talk. Could it be sheer serendipity, or is it us getting better in touch with the business world? Whatever that is, I reckon that continuous hardwork and research will definitely pay off one day.

AOTM Submission for May 2008 – Hyflux

For those who can’t wait, please click here for my report on Hyflux. Please do not forget to post or email your feedback, comments, critical arguments, constructive suggestions, etc…

In the meantime, I must make a few confessions:

1. This is the first time I really enjoy reading a company’s annual reports.

2. This is the first time I seriously work on an assignment since my O-levels. (I didn’t really put in a lot of effort in my University days either!)

3. This is the first time I really walk-the-talk by seriously applying what I have learnt in the past on analysing a company for investment purposes.

I remember the first time I came across the terms like “fundamental analysis”, “value investing”, “understanding financial statements”, etc. etc. was way back to year 2000, since then I had a great collection of classical books such as Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor and others on my bookshelves (you may refer to the book list tab for the complete list), which was put into ‘very good use’ that was no better than merely impress family visitors. I briefly read some of them, occassionally talked about them during coffee breaks only to impress fellow coffee-breakers on how widely read I was. I at best knew the theories well enough to talk intelligently with jargons but I had no practical experience on applying those theories into my real-life investment (although I did get lucky on some stocks I had bought). Of course, as I grew older and became more mature, I started to appreciate the theories, methodologies, mindsets of those great investors much much better; however, procrastination became my biggest road block. I knew the importance of applying what I have read and learnt on real-life cases through practice and trial-and-error and improve from there, I just simply didn’t really seriously take a first step into serious investment. Not until setting up this website early this month, which is 8 years later. (Warren Buffett would have killed me for losing the compounding opportunities of 8 great years without seriously investing!)

I remember my other good investment buddy, DmS, he once tested me with an IQ question: “Hey, in a dark night, you have a torch light and it can only reach 10 meters in front of you, what do you need to do if you want to see the road 20 meters in front of you?”. I proudly told him that the answer was simple, “Just walk forward 10 meters, so that your torch light can reach another 10 meters in front of you!”.

That was a wakening call.

No matter how smart, how widely-read you are, you need to take action and take small steps forward, in order to reach the goals you want to achieve.

I know my report on this little assignment is not flawless, but I am quite happy that I have moved forward with my little torch light and no matter how small the steps were, I know I am already closer to where I want to be.

I am happy because I have taken action. And I feel much cleverer after the assignment, and I hope I will become slightly richer soon.

“Open Source” concept

My wife joined an “Open Source” software company not too long ago and after attending some newbie orientation, she excitedly shared with me the vision of “Open Source”: The company does not own the source codes of the software, the codes are open to the customers and the customers are empowered to use the codes freely, improve the software by changing the codes freely and distribute the new codes to the “Open Source” community for sharing (this is the only obligation). The company believes that through sharing, the quality of software only gets better because bugs are rectified more quickly, new functionalities are created quicker and in a more innovative way.

I would like to quote the following statements that are posted on the company’s website:

“The concept behind open source is not new. For centuries, universities and research communities have shared their work. Monks copied books by hand. Scientists publish new discoveries in journals. Mathematical formulas are distributed, improved, redistributed.”

“Imagine if all of this past knowledge was kept hidden or its use was restricted to only those who are willing to pay for it. Yet this is the mentality behind the proprietary software model. In the same way shared knowledge propels the whole of society forward, open technology development can drive innovation for an entire industry.”

The concept of “Open Source” also applies here in “Infinite Wealth”! Like I have already mentioned in my very first post, I intend to use this blog as a platform for knowledge sharing. Investment frameworks, methodologies, concepts, ideas that we publish here are open for sharing, I want all of us to learn from each other through sharing, grow together, get smarter together, and better still, make money together! The only thing I ask from you in return is your feedback, comment and contribution. Now, after understanding this software company’s vision on “Open Source”, I feel even more motivated to make “Infinite Wealth” a success because I want to make a change to our society, to begin with this little knowledge sharing platform, I would like to educate and help people get out of financial rat race.

Let’s keep this going together, we need you to be part of our success.

A small but important step towards financial freedom

I did not intentionally choose Labour Day as the first day writing my first ‘official’ post in my blog (which I have set up months ago – I know, procrastination is my #1 weakness, which I am actively working on now). Anyway, it seems to be a pretty auspicious day to mark a new beginning on Labour Day 2008. A few years from today when I achieve my financial freedom (sure I will!), I will proudly tell my buddies in our ‘kopi’ sessions (it’s a Singapore slang, basically, it means coffee break) that on Labour day 2008, I took a small but important step towards financial freedom. This makes celebrating Labour day more special.

Well, blogging alone will not get us really rich. I know millions of bloggers out there may disagree, my point is: what I am saying about taking a small but important step today is not really about blogging, it’s about a symbol of commitment that really matters. It is about me telling my friends and the whole world that starting today, through blogging, I am regularly setting action items and goals which lead me towards financial freedom. And here, I am inviting YOU to join me for the fun and thrill in this journey.

Another key objective of setting up this blog is to use it as a common platform for me and my like-minded friends (YOU!) who are passionate about investment to share knowledge and experience on investment and business. I strongly believe that through active sharing and healthy debates, we learn and grow much quicker. Apart from knowledge sharing, blogging is also a good way to track and monitor progress over time.

I will eventually come out some standard framework for us to put down our thoughts and ideas in a more systematic manner, but for now, it’s free-style. I have discussed earlier with my good friend RT on the topics that we will discuss here, here is a partial list:

• Investment fundamentals – different school of thoughts
• Securities Analysis/Fundamental Analysis – the criteria that we should set, for ourselves
• Study financial reports – to start with, we can start reading Hyflux report or Microsoft
• Macroeconomics
• Book list/Book review/ebooks
• Understanding the market
• Technical Analysis
• Financial investment instruments – fixed income, equities
• Hedging/Risk management – through options, cut-loss strategy
• Non-financial investment instruments – wine-investment, art pieces investment
• Property – a big topic by itself, for capital appreciation, for rental yields, local/overseas markets, know-how
• Business opportunities – franchise business, new niche products, network marketing
• Internet Marketing

To start the journey and get the ball rolling, the first assignment that I am proposing today for the month of May, 2008 is here: http://infinitewealth.wordpress.com/assignment-of-the-month/

Have fun!